Trump protests: Crowd gathers for Hands Across Lake Merritt

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People hold hands in unity as they line the 3.4 mile shore around the lake to stand up against racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia in a peaceful way around Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

People begin to gather around the lake to stand up against racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia in a peaceful way around Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. David Martingale, of Oakland, holds an American flag and wanted to be there to let people know its not ok to be racist, speak down to women, people with disabilities, and those of different religions backgrounds. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

People line the 3.4 mile shore around the lake to stand up against racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia in a peaceful way around Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

Anthea Charles, of Oakland, is joined by friends and strangers as they join hands and share the peace sign around Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. People were there lining the 3.4 miles around the lake to stand up against racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia in a peaceful way. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

SUSAN TRIPP POLLARD/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

A jogger makes his way around the 3.4 miles of Lake Merritt as people hold hands, flash the peace sign and stand up against racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia in a peaceful way in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

A pedestrian walks towards Lake Merritt as people gather to support peace and unity in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

People line the 3.4 mile shore around the lake to stand up against racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia in a peaceful way around Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

Friends and strangers hold hands as people line the 3.4 mile shore around the lake to stand up against racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia in a peaceful way around Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND — Like thousands of Bay Area residents, Bernice Hernandez and her two daughters traveled to Lake Merritt Sunday to hold hands in solidarity against the racism and xenophobia they associate with the nation’s next president.

But Hernandez, a preschool teacher from Concord, says they already have a window into what life will be like in Donald Trump’s America — and it’s a scary place. A classmate told her second-grade son that Trump was going to send all the Mexicans back to Mexico, said Hernandez, who traces her roots to El Salvador. And her daughter, a freshman at Clayton Valley Charter School, saw a classmate write “Trump” on her notebook. She’s not just worried about her kids.

“I don’t feel safe anymore,” Hernandez said. “I feel like I have to keep looking behind my back. I don’t know what people are thinking.”

But that wasn’t the case Sunday in Oakland for what was likely the largest and one of the most peaceful demonstrations in the Bay Area since Trump’s shocking victory over Hillary Clinton.

Participants streamed to Lake Merritt from BART stations and city streets. Shortly after 4 p.m. they all joined hands, appearing to form a continuous human chain around the lake’s 3.4-mile perimeter.

Musicians sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “We Shall Overcome.” A few participants chanted “We reject the president-elect!” Others handed out safety pins as a symbol of solidarity with minorities who feel especially threatened by a Trump presidency.

The event, dubbed “Hands Around Lake Merritt,” was the brainchild of 39-year-old Oakland resident Allison White. She created a Facebook page welcoming people to take part in a “peaceful joining … to honor our community, the values we stand for and our resilience as a nation.” About 7,500 people declared on Facebook that they would attend.

Many participants said they came — and brought their children — because it seemed more welcoming than the nighttime protests that have been held every night in Oakland and several other cities across the country since Trump’s victory Tuesday.

A smaller family-friendly anti-Trump demonstration was held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on Sunday, and another protest march was happening in that city in the early evening Sunday. In San Jose, the Center for Spiritual Living hosted a “Day of Healing and Reconciliation,” at which a few dozen people discussed how to keep the country from tearing itself apart.

Trump’s election sparked three straight nights of protests in downtown Oakland, all of them marked by dumpster fires, graffiti and other vandalism. Thirty people were arrested Wednesday night, and 11 more on Thursday night on suspicion of charges ranging from assault on police officers, vandalism, failure to disperse and public intoxication.

At the same time, there have been several reports of racist bullying by Trump supporters. A woman traveling on a BART train was captured on video warning a fellow passenger that “Trump might deport you.” And a San Jose State student reported that one day after Trump’s victory a man came up from behind her and pulled on her head scarf, yanking it backward. On Friday, racist graffiti was found at Edison Elementary School in Alameda.

For Jessica Kitchens, a 32-year-old writer from Berkeley, such incidents illustrate that Trump is far more dangerous than the nation’s last Republican president, George W. Bush.

“I didn’t agree with him,” she said. “But he didn’t incite the amount of fear and hatred that Trump’s campaign has.”

While many participants at Lake Merritt were still trying to come to grips with a Trump presidency, Shannon Roberts, a nurse from Berkeley, was thinking about how to oppose him every step of the way. She’s planning to work more overtime shifts to give money to the ACLU and other organizations that could challenge any power grabs by the Trump administration. She’s also considering picketing businesses that have ties to Trump.

“I know I’m grasping at straws right now,” she said, looking at the thousands of people ringing the lake. “I just hope we have the energy to maintain this for four years.”